Geiger Richárd - görög népek 027 Leonidasz hírnököt küld Spártába hogy kitartanak

''Molon labe'' ( grc, μολὼν λαβέ, molṑn labé), meaning 'come and take hem, is a classical expression of defiance. It is among the Laconic phrases reported by Plutarch, attributed to King Leonidas I in reply to the demand by Xerxes I that the Spartans surrender their weapons. The exchange between Leonidas and Xerxes occurs in writing, on the eve of the

Battle of Thermopylae The Battle of Thermopylae ( ; grc, Μάχη τῶν Θερμοπυλῶν, label=Greek, ) was fought in 480 BC between the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Xerxes I and an alliance of Greek city-states led by Sparta under Leonidas I. Lasting o ...

(480 BC).

Grammar

The phrase is in the Classical Greek of Plutarch, and does not necessarily reflect the

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

dialect that Leonidas would have used. The form is recorded in Doric as the aorist for , "to go, come". The classical pronunciation is , the Modern Greek pronunciation . The phrase is participial, and the translation would be "when you come, take it!” This use of the participle is known as the circumstantial participle in the grammar of classical Greek, i.e. the participle gives a circumstance (the coming) attendant on the main verb (the taking). It is a form of hypotaxis, where English would use

parataxis Parataxis (from el, παράταξις, "act of placing side by side"; from παρα, ''para'' "beside" + τάξις, ''táxis'' "arrangement") is a literary technique, in writing or speaking, that favors short, simple sentences, without conjun ...

, the conjunction of two verbs, "come and take". This construction normally (but not always) occurs within narrative literature. The first word, (, "having come") is the

aorist Aorist (; abbreviated ) verb forms usually express perfective aspect and refer to past events, similar to a preterite. Ancient Greek grammar had the aorist form, and the grammars of other Indo-European languages and languages influenced by the I ...

active participle (

masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...

nominative In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...

, singular) of the Greek verb (, "to come"). The aorist stem is (the present stem in being the regular reflex of , from a verbal root reconstructed as , , "to appear"). The aorist participle is used in cases where an action has been completed, also called the

perfective aspect The perfective aspect (abbreviated ), sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect that describes an action viewed as a simple whole; i.e., a unit without interior composition. The perfective aspect is distinguished from the imp ...

. This is a nuance indicating that the first action (the coming) must precede the second (the taking). The second word, , is the second person singular aorist imperative of "take; grasp, seize". The entire phrase is thus in the singular, i.e. Leonidas is depicted as addressing Xerxes personally, not the Persian army as a group.

Origin

Plutarch cites the phrase in his ("Sayings of Spartans"). The exchange between Leonidas and Xerxes occurs in writing, on the eve of the

(480 BC):

When Xerxes wrote again, 'Hand over your arms,' he wrote in reply, 'Come and take them.' (trans. Frank Cole Babbitt, 1931)

The exchange is cited in a collection of sayings by Leonidas before the Battle of Thermopylae (51.2–15). The main source for the events of the battle is Herodotus. According to his account, the Spartans held Thermopylae for three days, and although ultimately defeated, they inflicted serious damage on the Persian army. Most importantly, this delayed the Persians' progress to Athens, providing sufficient time for the city's evacuation to the island of Salamis. Though a tactical defeat, Thermopylae served as a strategic and

moral victory A moral victory occurs when a person, team, army or other group loses a confrontation, and yet achieves some other moral gain. This gain might be unrelated to the confrontation in question, and the gain is often considerably less than what would h ...

, inspiring the Greek forces to defeat the Persians at the

Battle of Salamis The Battle of Salamis ( ) was a naval battle fought between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles and the Persian Empire under King Xerxes in 480 BC. It resulted in a decisive victory for the outnumbered Greeks. The battle was ...

later the same year and the

Battle of Plataea The Battle of Plataea was the final land battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place in 479 BC near the city of Plataea in Boeotia, and was fought between an alliance of the Greek city-states (including Sparta, Athens, C ...

one year later.

Modern use

Greece

Modern use of as a military motto appears to originate in the Kingdom of Greece during the First World War or the Greco-Turkish War. The motto is on the emblem of the I Army Corps of Greece and the Second Infantry Division of Cyprus (1940). The phrase was inscribed on the Thermopylae monument (1955), using an archaic script that would be appropriate for the time of the Persian Wars. During the Cyprus Emergency between Greek Cypriot insurgents and British troops, Cypriot leader Grigoris Afxentiou on 3 March 1957 became surrounded by British forces outside his secret hideout near the Machairas Monastery near Lazanias, Nicosia.Grivas Memoirs (1964), p. 111 The British troops requested that he surrender his arms, but Afxentiou shouted in reply. Unable to flush him out and sustaining several casualties, the British forces resorted to pouring gasoline into his hideout and lighting it.

United States

Allusion to the phrase in an English translation ("come and take it!") is recorded in the context of the Revolutionary War, noted in 1778 at

Fort Morris Fort Morris is an earthen works fort in Liberty County, Georgia, in the United States. The fort is on a bend in the Medway River and played an important role in the protection of southeast Georgia throughout various conflicts beginning in 174 ...

in the Province of Georgia, and later in 1835 at the

Battle of Gonzales The Battle of Gonzales was the first military engagement of the Texas Revolution. It was fought near Gonzales, Texas, on October 2, 1835, between rebellious Texian settlers and a detachment of Mexican army soldiers. In 1831, Mexican authoriti ...

during the Texas Revolution where it became a prevalent slogan. In the United States, the original Greek phrase and its English translation are often heard as a defense of the

right to keep and bear arms The right to keep and bear arms (often referred to as the right to bear arms) is a right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. The purpose of gun rights is for self-defense, including securi ...

and opposition to

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...

legislation. Use of the original Greek in the United States is more recent. Its use by militia organizations is reported for the 1990s or early 2000s. It is the motto of the Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT).

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molon Labe Greek words and phrases Quotations from military Slogans Battle of Thermopylae American political catchphrases Leonidas I Battle cries